Chatoyant College Book 13: Chapter 24: Studying on a Saturday

Edie turned the page in the book she was reading for American Literature. She had been enjoying Beloved, and really, she still was—it was a creepy story with a lot of depth both of character and of history. But she’d already finished one novel and read most of another in the time she’d been in the library, and it was strange to think, but she was getting sick of sitting around and reading.

She wondered if she should ask Dawn if she wanted to leave. But it had been Dawn’s idea to come to the library to study in the first place, and anyway, Edie wasn’t sure where she was at the moment.

She put her bookmark in the spot she’d reached and lifted her head to look around. She was in one of the relatively comfortable chairs in the reference area of the library. She wasn’t reading any reference books, but on a Saturday, this part of the library wasn’t busy. Dawn had started out here, taking a couple of books down from the shelves to look for sources for her paper, but in the last couple of hours she seemed to have wandered farther before returning.

Edie could certainly wait until Dawn had finished finding her latest source before asking to leave. She could read a few more pages.

First, she stood up and stretched, making sure she didn’t just feel bored because she’d been sitting in one position for too long. She knew she should get up and move more often, but it was hard to remember to do that.

She sat down, feeling slightly refreshed, and opened the book again. She fell into the story of Sethe, Denver, and Paul D, and didn’t look up again until she heard someone sit down in the chair next to hers.

It was Dawn, a stack of photocopies and a book in her arms. “Hey, Edie. Are you ready to go, or do you want to finish your book?”

“No, we can go. I was just thinking that I was sick of sitting around.” Edie flipped back through the pages to try to find out how long she’d been reading since she thought that. She gave up after about ten. Maybe she really had just needed to get up and stretch.

“Well, I’ll check out this book, and then we can walk back to Gilkey.” Dawn stood.

Edie followed her out of the room. “Did you get some good information?”

Dawn nodded happily. “I have more than the required number of sources now, and I know my paper will be better than it was. I found something really helpful. I just hope I don’t end up going too far over the page count.”

Edie laughed. “Better not let Corrie hear you worry about doing more work than you’re supposed to. She’ll just be exasperated.”

Dawn gave her a conspiratorial smile. “That’s why you’re more fun to study with.” She put the book on the front desk, and the guy sitting there—Edie didn’t know him, but Dawn seemed to—checked the book out to her.

When they went outside, Edie was almost surprised to find that it was a bright, sunny afternoon. It wasn’t exactly dark in the library, but she’d sort of expected it to be night from how long she’d sat around there. She really did need to get up and move around more.

But she also needed to finish Beloved tonight. She really wanted to find out what happened.

Before they reached Gilkey, she noticed someone waving from further up the path. She squinted and realized it was Zip. “I think Zip is waving at me,” she told Dawn. “See you later.”

“Sure, have fun,” Dawn said. Edie turned left where the paths diverged and headed up the path.

“Have you been studying?” Zip called to her in mock horror as she approached. “On a Saturday afternoon?”

Edie grinned. “This way I can flaunt it in front of everyone who hasn’t finished their work on Sunday night.” Zip was standing next to a group of people sitting down in the grass near the environmental co-op, which was also the campus Hillel building. Edie vaguely recognized all of them as Zip’s friends from Hillel, though she didn’t know their names.

“Well, take a break and hang out with us.” Zip sat down in the grass and patted the ground next to her.

“This isn’t just a trick to try to get me to come to Hillel more often, is it?” Edie tried to give everyone friendly smiles. She didn’t sit down, not because she was afraid of being dragged into Hillel, but because she didn’t like the idea of sitting in the grass without supervision from a professor. Ginny had hardly seemed worried yesterday, but with a faerie killer potentially loose on campus, Edie didn’t want to do anything that would draw the faeries’ attention.

“No, we’re just hanging out,” said one of the boys. His dark curls flopped into his face. “We don’t bite, I promise.”

“Come on, Edie, I hardly talk to you now that we’re not in the same French class,” Zip said.

Edie nodded. That was true, and it was disappointing. “Sure.” She took off her backpack and sat down carefully, letting her feet rest on the grass but making sure she was mostly still on the path.